Winding Down

Or are we winding up?  Hmmmmm.  Very good question.  I would say the kids are most definitely winding up even as the days are winding down.  With only 2 days left until Christmas, it's hard to believe how fast the time has already flown!  With so many activities and things going on, it's no wonder that I'm left wondering where all the time has gone.  Friday was the last day of school for the kids and the festivities of the upcoming holiday were jump started with class parties for each of them. 

I know that it's not required to give Christmas gifts to teachers, but they do so much for our kids that I would feel terrible if I didn't do something to express our thanks and appreciation.  Having so many kids in school is starting to get a bit expensive, but I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again -- slap some cellophane and ribbon on just about anything and it will instantly look much more polished and a whole lot classier.  Even if all you're giving away is a variety of Dove chocolates housed in a festive melamine bowl that was on clearance at Target for $1.24.  Hahaha.  Of course, tacking on a gift card adds things up a bit, but like I said -- these teachers are basically working for peanuts and they go above and beyond for my kids.  It's the least I can do to give them a token gift at Christmas time.

 There is so much I love about this picture -- Ethan's GQ pose, the terrified look on Sophie's face, not to mention Grace's "are we done yet?" look.  It was REALLY cold out there that morning and I think they really just wanted to get in the car and go to school -- not stand outside and take a bunch of pictures for mom.

For record's sake, I had to take pictures of the wish lists I received from Ethan and Grace this season.  Even though the gig is up for the two of them with regards to Santa, it didn't seem to do much to change their requests to something a little bit more reasonable for us to accomplish.  Ethan's list is heavy on the electronics end and Grace's is just kind of all over the place.  Kind of a metaphor, really.  Hahahaha.

In other news, Lover Boy is pretty much the cutest thing ever these days.  I had to pull out the camera yesterday morning when amidst the CHAOS of trying to get the kids to clean up their rooms and get the house pulled together, Alex busted out his "folded arms" prayer pose when he heard Scott and I trying to round up the kids to do Scripture Time in the hopes that THAT would calm them all down.  It didn't, but I did manage to snap the perfect shot of his earnest little face. 

Unrelated to his "praying," but I also had to snap a shot of him walking around with his elephant.  He LOVES this thing and would take it everywhere with him if we let him.  We've had to curtail it's forays into the outside world, though, because we've left it behind at enough places to know that it's not worth the risk -- Alex is distraught at nap times and bedtimes without it and if we ever lost it for real it would be tragic!

Yesterday evening we braved a trip to Walmart to take the kids shopping for their Secret Santa/Stocking stuffing gifts.  It was nuts.  I'm not sure we'll be doing this again next year.  For one thing, the kids are worse than I am when it comes to surprises -- Grace (with help from the others) managed to figure out whose name everyone had within minutes of them picking out of the hat.  And for another thing, it was an absolute madhouse trying to keep track of all 5 kids while keeping them separated enough so that they wouldn't see what they were getting each other.  AND it ended up being a bit of a pricier jaunt than we had budgeted for.  Live and learn, right?  At least Christmas only comes but once a year!

We managed to get the rest of the house cleaned up this afternoon as we prepped for having company over for dessert.  {Sidenote -- I've decided that I need to invite people over more often or at least volunteer to host more things at our house since it's the only way it ever really gets clean.  I guess I just need a hard and fast deadline to get things done.}  The grand occasion was celebrating the birthday of one of my very best friends in the world!  For the first time EVER since I first met her our freshman year at BYU, I was able to wish Natalie a happy birthday in person!  Who would have ever thought back then that one day (over a decade in the future) we'd be living in the same city once more.  Crazy!  After dinner, we had Natalie and her family over for some cheesecake and celebration and while the kids ran riot in the background, we grown-ups got to visit.  It was so much fun. 

{We sang to her and everything!}

Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the countdown is almost over!  We've still got all kinds of laundry and packing to do to get ready for our trip, and perhaps a few more last minute runs to the store for various gift items, but we should still have plenty of time to make the traditional Gingerbread houses and act out the Christmas story right before bed.  Hopefully all will cooperate once it's time to go to sleep and while visions of sugar plums dance in their head I'll finally be able to rest!